


Waiting on Dawn

by Lockea



Category: DCU
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bruce Wayne is a Good Dad, Bruce Wayne's A+ Parenting, F/F, Human Trafficking, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Omega/Omega, Slavery, Teen Pregnancy, Trauma Recovery, Underage Prostitution, no capes AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-20 15:53:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11924196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lockea/pseuds/Lockea
Summary: When the police bust a human trafficking ring trading in underage omegas, they find their hands full trying to place a pair of bonded omegas, one of which is pregnant, who have formed an unhealthy codependent bond with each other in a safe environment so they can heal. Feeling compassion for the two teenagers, Bruce agrees to take them in despite the chaos it might cause among his three omega children.





	1. Rescue

**Author's Note:**

> I blame Very Patient Best Friend even though they had nothing to do with this. They just egg me on and listen to me ramble.
> 
> If you're curious about "The Promise" I wrote myself into a corner and have to revise in order to get out of the hole and I'm dragging my feet. It hasn't been abandoned or forgotten. I just need a break from life one of these days to finish writing myself back out of the hole. You all can blame (or thank) Kattitina for finding the plot holes.
> 
> This may not be the only ABO fic where all the bat brats save Babs and Steph are omegas. Originally I started a story where Bruce adopted everyone but Jason and Jason was a prostitute because it offered more freedom than being a quiet little housewife but he gets arrested one too many times and Pretty Woman was a good movie, wasn't it? Anyway. That one is sitting on the back burner because Kattitina wanted some BruJay and I was like "seriously? Oh, okay" and that is not my cup of tea but somehow I'm writing it. 
> 
> I really just want Omega/Omega relationships to be a thing because same assignation ABO is my jam.
> 
> Trigger warning for the second scene -- I'm not AO3's most graphic non-con writer, but I'd still like to warn people that it's in there. Aside from flashbacks, that will be the only non-con scene in the fic.

Jason couldn’t think. The warehouse was dark and noisy and the cage he’d been shoved into with the other kids wasn’t large enough for all of them. Some of the younger ones were sniffling – probably recently taken off the streets, given that a few were as young as seven, which meant they would have just presented – but no one was outright crying and if Jason weren’t so frantic and unable to concentrate he might have wrapped his arms around them and held onto them, unsure if it was more to soothe his nerves or theirs. There was nothing he could say to make this better and right now he couldn’t say anything anyway. They’d taken Dick from him.

Dick was the one – when Jason was seven and Dick was nine and they’d first been dragged into a warehouse much like this one to be sold for the first time – Dick was the one who’d wrapped his arms around Jason and told him it would be all right. Two black haired, blue eyed beauties meant they’d been sold as a matched set, which at least kept them together. They’d stayed together for the last eight years but now they’d taken Dick from Jason and he knew it was temporary this time but he couldn’t think past the haze of panic, of what if. What if Dick didn’t come back. What if this time they killed him. That had almost happened last time when they beat him and kicked him and the blood hadn’t stopped and they’d brought in some back-alley doctor but Dick was so pale and weak and Jason knew he’d die if Dick died. He couldn’t do this alone. He could never do anything without Dick.

He couldn’t think past the panic, his thoughts pouring around him in a jumbled mess of worry, so much so that it took precious moments for his mind to catch up with reality and register the sound of gunshots, the bedlam around him, and the brilliance of the warehouse floodlights as they came up. The children huddled down against the floor and Jason reached out to gather the younger ones around him at fifteen, he felt like he had to be the one to protect them because whatever was happening – whether it was a rival gang encroaching in or the police for once doing their jobs – Jason had to make sure they survived, damned all be it to him.

The open fire ceased after what felt like an eternity, and Jason dared to raise his head. For once in his life relieved to see one of the boys in blue, guns blazing, and at least one of the men who’d been trading in omegas on the ground being handcuffed. One officer approached the cage. “You all right?” He asked the group and Jason nodded.

“They took him.” He managed, the words spilling out of his mouth. “They took my friend, Dick. Please he’s pregnant. They were going to kill the baby.”

The officer, a beta by the smell of him, blanched. “Okay, okay. Stay calm. There’s an officer coming to get you out of the cage. I’m going to see if I can’t find your friend, all right?”

Jason nodded, but there was still something frantic and twisting in him, the panic threatening to take hold. Jason fought it back down. The police were here and the traffickers were on the ground and maybe, just maybe, this time things really would be okay.

*~*~*

It wasn’t supposed to end like this. Dick knew time was running out. He’d known that for almost a year now. Jason was still pretty and young and lithe and even better couldn’t seem to get pregnant no matter how many heats he went through without birth control. Dick on the other hand was quickly becoming the opposite. He’d always been overly fertile, and this was his fourth pregnancy since the last time they were sold. He was tall and broad shouldered and sure he still had that beautiful acrobat’s body that had made his dame so desirable in his youth. It wasn’t the pretty androgyny of childhood though, the beauty that made a young omega so desirable, especially the male omegas. No, it was more masculine, a trait more associated with alphas and beta males than with omegas.

He knew, he did, that he wouldn’t be going back to Jason. They’d said they were just taking him to get rid of the baby but Dick knew it wasn’t going to end with just the baby dead. His fears were confirmed when they dragged him to a back room and threw him to the ground, hands cuffed behind him. “One last go,” one of the alphas who led the trafficking ring told the others who gathered in a loose circle around him. “A freebie before tonight’s auction, since this one’s not going to be sold.”

His stomach dropped out then, staring up at the alphas who undid their jeans revealing hardening cocks and readying knots. Dick tried to struggle to his feet, but he’d never been a match for these men. He was fast – still faster than many of them, and his nimble hands and feet had rarely failed him so surely as they did when these men were involved. This, what was supposed to be his third sale, was instead his grave. He’d turn up in the Gotham river in the morning, another sad case for whom no justice would ever be served. One of the alphas grabbed him before he could get to his feet, shoving Dick back down and pulling him by his hair – long and loose like his last master had preferred it. Dick growled, but it would never be of the same timber as an alpha’s, instead far too weak and high to be threatening.

That same alpha straddled his back and used his superior weight to force Dick to submit, teeth at his neck over the fading bond mark his last master had given him, the same one he’d given to Jason as well. Dick fought, bucking and writhing and ultimately failing as the teeth at his throat forced him under, the natural instinct to submit even stronger in pregnancy, the desire to protect his unborn young acting in contradiction to his own free will. “Good boy.” The alpha whispered in his ear, stroking up his sides as Dick shuddered and closed his eyes, forcing himself to breath. If he had to die, at least he could die calmly. Fighting wouldn’t save him here.

_I’m sorry, Jaybird_.

He fought to control his breathing, to stay calm as the drawstring of his ragged pants were undone and the waist band pulled down to around his upper thighs. He breathed out in a harsh pant as the man pushed home, the feel of his cock stretching and burning his unlubricated hole, chaffing him enough that Dick moaned in pain. “That’s it, pretty. Such a shame you’re all used up. You’d have made a pretty profit if you were still as good looking as your friend. Now that’s an omega I’d like to fuck. Guess I’ll have to make do with you and pretend you’re him.”

Dick closed his eyes and cried as a particularly hard thrust stretched him beyond what was comfortable and left him with tears leaking out of the corner of his eyes. Over him, one of the other alphas laughed. “Quit singing sweet nothings to the slut.” The alpha said to the one fucking Dick. He pulled his own cock free of his jeans and knelt down, hands coming to grip at the edges of Dick’s mouth. Dick gasped and tried to pull away, only to receive a harsh slap for his effort. “Shut up and swallow it. Can’t let Brody here have all the fun.”

He thought about biting, he really did, as the bitter taste of an alpha’s cock washed over him and he breathed through his nose to keep from choking and gagging as the cock slid home in the back of his throat, the slowly swelling knot pressed flush against his lips.

Time skipped, the world blurred, and when Dick came to again he was lying on the floor completely naked and there were the bodies of two of the alphas lying near him. His backside ached and he could feel his stomach roiling the way it did when he was coming back out of whatever fog his brain sometimes retreated into. He glanced up just in time to see another alpha approaching him, slightly crouched and with a hand outstretched towards Dick, who flinched away instinctively.

“Easy, easy.” The alpha said. He was holding a gun in his other hand and Dick couldn’t look away. “You’re safe, all right? My name’s Officer Williams and I’m with the GCPD major crimes unit.” He glanced over his shoulder away from Dick. “Hey, someone grab a blanket! There’s a live victim over here.” He turned back to Dick, who finally noticed the color of his uniform. “It’s okay, it’s okay. I’m going to come take those cuffs off you, all right?”

Blue. Blue meant the police. It meant people who would take him away from Jason. It meant the same people who’d taken him from the circus and let him be taken by the people who’d sold him and Jason that first time, two homeless orphans who no one cared one shit about. And now there was one staring down at him with something uncomfortably like pity in his eyes. “It’s okay.”

It wasn’t. It never would be. Dick opened his mouth, coughed and then the coughs turn into dry heaves and he struggled to get in a position where he could breathe without asphyxiating on stomach bile and cum but his back hurt and his body didn’t feel right – all floaty and weak like it had after he’d lost the last baby and oh God, what would he do if this killed it? “Jay…” He managed between gasping breathes and choking, sobbing coughs. “Where is Jason?” It seemed his stomach was empty and as much as he heaved nothing else was coming up but the contractions of his stomach hurt and he feared what they were doing to the baby.

“Hush, hush.” Officer William’s soothed, approaching Dick like he was a spooked animal as another officer, a female beta, approached with a blanket. He thanked her and said something softly to her before she turned and walked off. “I’ve sent another officer to check on the others. All right? Everyone in that cage in the other room is safe but if there’s anyone else here we need to know about it. Do you know where anyone else is?” He draped the blanket over Dick’s shoulders and used the proximity to unlock the cuffs. Dick recoiled from him the moment his hands were freed and pulled the blanket around his shoulders, pulling his knees up to his chest both to protect the baby and to give him some modesty.

“No, that’s everyone.” Dick managed. “Jason…”

“Shh, if he’s with everyone else he’ll be fine. We’ll bring him over as soon as we can. You just sit there and calm down and tell me what you can.”

In halting words, Dick tried. “They were going to kill me.” He managed, and repeated that several times. “They were going to kill my baby and me.”

“Baby?!” Officer Williams reached for Dick who flinched away from him instinctively and curled deeper in the blanket. “Shit, shit, shit.” He called over his shoulder again and Dick looked past him, noticed another officer approaching with a paramedic and tried not to cry out. “We need medical over here now! He’s pregnant.”

The paramedic, who’d been approaching slowly, picked up pace to a fast walk. She smelled like an omega and Dick relaxed as she came close to him, soaking in the soothing pheromones rolling off her skin. “Hey there.” She greeted, like one would greet a child. “I’m Em. What’s your name?”

“Richard.” Dick answered. “Richard Grayson, but my friend calls me Dick.”

“Okay, is that what you prefer to be called?” Em asked. Dick nodded. “How old are you Dick?”

Dick did the math in his head. “Seventeen. I’ll be eighteen in a couple months.”

Officer Williams stood up and walked off then, and Dick watched him go warily before Em gently put her hand on Dick’s shoulder and he looked back at her. “Hi Dick. Don’t mind Officer Williams. His eldest is nineteen. She just went off to college. These kinds of cases always get to him.” Dick nodded, but he didn’t really understand what Em was saying. “Can I touch you? I’d like to make sure your baby is all right. How far along are you?”

“Yeah. I don’t know.” Dick answered the two questions. Em gently slipped her hands through the blanket and pressed against his abdomen. “I think three months? I had my last real heat about then.”

His stomach had calmed but his throat still hurt and his mouth tasted acidic with bile and he couldn’t produce enough saliva to get rid of the taste and if that wasn’t frustrating Dick didn’t know what was. Then the sound of footsteps running towards him had him looking up just in time to see Jason sprinting full tilt towards Dick and he struggled to his knees as Jason crashed into him, the younger teen burying his face in Dick’s shoulder.

“It’s okay.” Dick whispered as he wrapped his arms around Jason’s shoulders. “It’s okay little wing, I’m right here.”

Jason laughed, the sound almost sobbing as he pulled away and Dick realized there were tears streaking down his face. “You idiot.” He returned, hugging Dick again. “You almost died.”

“I didn’t though, did I?” Dick glanced over Jason’s shoulder at Em warily but the paramedic was just sitting on her heels, watching them without saying a word. “It’s over now. We’re going to be okay.”

“Liar.” Jason replied, but he continued to cling to Dick like a barnacle. “You’re an awful liar I don’t know why I love you.”

Dick didn’t respond, letting silence and exhaustion settle around him now that the adrenaline was gone. He hurt, everything hurt and he just wanted to take a bath and sleep for the next twenty hours.

“I’m sorry to interrupt.” Em cleared her throat after a few minutes, looking uncomfortable but with the calm professionalism of a woman on a mission. “We need to get you loaded in the ambulance. We’re going to be taking you to Gotham Memorial for fluids and an ultrasound at least. Your friend can ride with us.”

Dick nodded, relieved that he wasn’t going to be separated from Jason. Not yet anyway, but they would soon. Dick wasn’t an idiot – he knew he and Jason didn’t have a healthy bond. They were two planets lost in deep space, trapped in an orbit around each other. They were sick, wrong, and broken. Omegas didn’t form bonds like the one he had with Jason. Even a proper mating bond, like the one their last master had forced on them, hadn’t left him feeling like the world was ending when their master died. No, this bond – even just the thought of them taking Jason away from him made him sick to his stomach.

As soon as the police and the doctors realized how broken and twisted they were, they were going to take Jason away from him. Dick was sure of it. The thought filled him with dread.

*~*~*

Marie Inslow had seen a lot during her career as a crisis counselor and clinical social worker. She’d seen children ready to face death head on and adults terrified of living. She’d watched patients walk away into the night and never come back, and some she’d pushed towards the light, towards recovery. Her job was to be there when people were at their lowest points in life and walk with them until they could stand on their own again. It was a rewarding but thankless job and in her lifetime Marie had seen more than any human ever should. None of it, however, quite prepared her for the night when paramedics brought in a pair of omegas rescued from a human trafficking ring operating in Gotham and she was asked to perform a psychological evaluation on them and their bond. The paramedic, an omega, had felt something off about them when she brought them in, but with no background in psychology couldn’t figure out what was going on.

The first thing Marie noticed when she entered the hospital room was the younger one – Jason. He was standing beside the hospital bed with his feet braced at shoulder width apart, posturing like a young alpha with one hand on his hip, even as the older omega – Richard – held tightly to his other hand. At least he’d changed into a pair of clean hospital scrubs and Richard was wearing a medical gown, his shoulder length black hair wet from the quick shower he’d been allowed to take while the paramedics and attending physicians had discussed the omegas’ care with the police. Richard was lying back in the hospital bed, an IV snaking into his free hand. He looked relaxed but for the death grip he had on Jason, his hand bloodless and white.

She smiled at them, all disarming beta, even as she thought she heard Jason growl – a pathetic sound, given that he didn’t have the vocal development of an alpha – and imagined the room probably stank with pheromones. More than once Marie felt lucky she couldn’t smell alpha and omega pheromones. Now she wondered if it’d help her navigate the minefield of these two. “Hi Jason, Richard. I’m Marie. I’m a licensed clinical social worker here at the hospital. I’d just like to talk to you two for a few minutes.”

“We don’t need a shrink.” Jason growled at the woman but Marie didn’t let it phase her.

“I know. I’m not a shrink. I don’t give medication, I just listen really well.” Marie replied, and it was true enough. That the police had asked for a diagnosis from her was none of their concern right now. As far as Jason and Richard were concerned, she really was here just to listen to them. “Why don’t you tell me something about yourselves. How long have you been together?”

Richard didn’t say anything in response and for a long moment Marie wondered if either of them was going to speak before Jason answered, “Eight years.”

“How long were you with the traffickers?”

Jason and Dick glanced at each other. Jason said, “Eight years.”

“So you’ve been together from the beginning?” Marie asked.

Jason growled and threw his arm up in frustration, advancing like he might attack Marie before his grip on Richard’s hand held him back. “The police already asked us these questions. What do you want?”

“She wants to separate us.” Richard said, tugging on Jason’s hand to get him to stand down. “They’re going to take us away from each other.”

What? No! That wasn’t what Marie wanted. She had her suspicions and if she was right then the worst possible thing that could be done to them would be to separate them. “Honey, who told you that?” She asked.

Richard said, “No one had to. It’s not right, the way we feel for each other.”

“Who told you that?” Marie asked. “Richard, have you ever heard of a Solova bond?”

Richard shook his head, and blue eyes half lidded tracked Marie as she crossed the room. “A Solova bond is a codependent bond between an alpha and an omega or two alphas or two omegas. Usually one or both bond mates have been traumatized or abused and they latch onto another person who makes them feel safe. You are right that it’s not a good thing to have a Solova bond but separating two people with a Solova bond can kill one or both bond mates. No one wants that. I’m a beta, so I can’t feel or smell your bond – I can only ask you questions about it. The paramedic who brought you in said she saw bond marks on both your neck and she wasn’t sure what your bonding status was.”

Marie could see the marks on Jason at least, where the v-neck of his sea green scrubs didn’t quite cover the faded white teeth marks. “Our master did it.” Richard said. “He’s dead. Got in trouble with the mob. That’s how we ended up back with the traffickers.”

“Did you have any problems when the bond was severed?” Marie asked.

Jason nodded and answered this time. “We both went into heat for six hours or so. It wasn’t very long or very strong.” A normal heat lasted anywhere between twenty-four and forty-eight hours, depending on the age of the omega and fertility status. Heats stopped when an omega became pregnant and resumed again about six months after birth, sooner if the pregnancy was terminated prematurely.

“Sounds like a sympathetic heat.” Marie mused. She looked to Richard. “Were you already pregnant? Did you have any nausea like symptoms? Any signs that you might miscarry?”

Richard paled at the words. “No.” His voice shook a bit as he answered. “Just the heat. I didn’t know I was pregnant at the time but the man who did the ultrasound says I’m fifteen weeks so I would have been twelve or thirteen weeks by then.”

Marie nodded. “I’m going to go talk to your attending physician. A heat during pregnancy is very rare and can sometimes cause miscarriages, but suffice to say that didn’t happen in this case. I just have one more question for you, Richard.” She paused and very seriously asked him, “Do you want to keep the baby.”

“Yes.” Richard answered immediately. “They took my last three from me. Please don’t take this one.”

“You know you’re only seventeen, Richard.” Marie soothed. “No one will blame you if you don’t want the baby. No one will blame you if you decide you don’t want the baby even after they are born. This is about what you want – what’s best for you, and I promise you I’m going to advocate for you and Jason both.”

Richard closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. When he opened them again he looked straight at Marie. “Don’t take me away from Jason; don’t take the baby from me.”

Marie nodded. “All right.”


	2. Chaos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mondays in the Wayne household.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU in which Bruce has even a modicum of emotional intelligence and Cass is the second oldest because canonical ages are for people who care about canon. AKA, not me or the writers of these comics.
> 
> Also, I really, really, cannot seem to get my head around Damian's characterization. I forgot how hard characterization is when you aren't used to the characters. I've been in the Final Fantasy fandom for YEARS so even emotionally challenging characters like Sephiroth or Celes were easy to figure out, but in I've been in DCU for less than one, so please forgive my OOC-ness. I really am trying.

Monday started in chaos. Bruce should have been used to it by now but it was mid-September and school had just started back up, which mean everything was falling to pieces and Bruce had an eight AM meeting he definitely wasn’t going to make at Wayne Enterprises.

“Damian! Cassandra! Tim! You’re going to be late for school!” Bruce hollered down the hall as he straightened his tie and made a beeline for the front door. Really, it was his fault he’d overslept after staying up so late working on notes for today’s meeting and Alfred certainly hadn’t been happy when he hadn’t made breakfast on time. None of the kids had either, which was somewhat unusual for Cass and Damian as they usually made it a point to be punctual.

Just another Monday in paradise he supposed.

He nearly tripped over Cassandra coming down the stairs. The teenage omega was sitting on the bottom step with her school uniform immaculate and her backpack beside her. That wasn’t too unusual. Cass had always been an easy child, one who put education first and wasn’t one to rock the boat. At sixteen she had fallen in love for the first time, with Gotham Academy’s scholarship student, the alpha Stephanie Brown. Ever since they’d started dating (much to Bruce’s disapproval) she’d been more eager than ever to go to school and hang out with her new girlfriend. Bruce hadn’t stopped her except to tell her that Stephanie would die a slow and painful death if Bruce saw so much as a hickey over Cass’s scent gland. So far, so good.

“Good morning, Cass.” He greeted her as he stepped over her backpack and made sure his phone was in his pocket. “Where are your brothers?” Normally Damian trailed after Cass like a lost puppy, although the ten-year-old would never admit it. Cass, quiet and unassuming, was Damian’s favorite person after Alfred, even if Damian would never admit to liking either the old beta or his sister.

Cass shrugged. “Tim’s in heat.”

“When did that start?” Bruce asked, and why had no one told him? Tim’s heat wasn’t due for another week, because every month the order went Cass one week and Tim the next. Cass’s heat had finished barely two days ago. Bruce dreaded the day Damian started having heats – probably in the next year or so. He was already micro-nesting in preparation for them, even if he wouldn’t admit that’s what the collection of blankets in his room was for.

Another shrug from Cass was all he got. So she didn’t know. Bruce could feel a tension headache coming on and reached into his pocket for his phone to call Alfred who had gone to bring the car around. He headed back up the stairs towards Tim’s room. First, he needed to check on the teenager. Second, he needed to figure out where the hell Damian was.

Fifteen years ago, if someone had told Bruce he’d have a house full of children he’d have laughed in their face. He hadn’t even settled down when Talia told him she was pregnant, refusing to marry the beta even though her father had threatened him bodily harm to make a proper dame out of her. It wasn’t in Bruce’s (or Talia’s, for that matter) stars to be a family. It wasn’t until he found Cassandra, an eight-year-old girl lost and abandoned because she was an omega, that Bruce finally became a father. Now she was just past sixteen and in love for the first time and Bruce wouldn’t have traded her or her brothers for the world.

“Alfred.” Bruce said into his phone as soon as the old butler picked up. “Tim’s heat, when did it start?”

“Master Timothy is in heat?” Alfred asked, sounding unfazed but Bruce knew the man well enough to know when he was surprised. “It must have started last night after everyone retreated to their rooms. I’ll bring him some food and water after I drop you, Master Damian, and Miss Cassandra off.”

“I’m checking on him now.” Bruce replied. “He’s almost fifteen. His heats shouldn’t be this irregular.”

Fourteen was, if you asked Bruce, too young to reach sexual maturity. Hell, Tim and Cass both had their first heats at twelve and _that_ was too young. Maybe closer to thirty. Thirty was a better age for all three of them, if only because Bruce would have more time to just let them be kids and get used to the idea of them dating _before_ he strangled Miss Brown for coming near his daughter.

Bruce pushed open the door to Tim’s room and was immediately assaulted by the smell of omega heat pheromones permeating the room. It was normally an irresistible scent to alphas like Bruce, but he had a familial bond with Tim and as such the heat scent awoke protective instincts rather than lustful ones. “Tim?” He called towards the mounded pile of blankets in the middle of the bed. “Are you all right?” He didn’t dare enter the room and invade the omega’s space when he was most vulnerable. Parental bond or not, Bruce was an alpha and alphas did not enter an omega’s space without permission

From the pile of blankets in the middle of the bed, Tim groaned. “Go ‘way. Heat’s early.”

“That’s why I’m worried.” Bruce pointed out. “Your heat was supposed to be next week.” He was met with another groan. “I’m scheduling an appointment with Dr. Thompkins. I don’t like that you’re still experiencing sporadic heats.”

“Whatever. Go away.” Tim replied. He was still buried in his nest, a pile of blankets from which Bruce could only see a single ankle emerge. Given that heats and periods were both physically painful for omegas, Bruce couldn’t say he blamed the teenager. He shut the door, slightly reassured that Tim wasn’t going to die today at least, although Cass’s heats had never been so wild and unpredictable as Tim’s.

He knocked on the door to Damian’s room next. “Damian? You’re going to be late for school.” He called through the closed door. Moments later Damian pulled the door open, dressed in his school uniform but with his jacket folded over his arm. He didn’t look up at Bruce but that didn’t mean Bruce couldn’t see the puffiness of Damian’s eyes, a surefire sign that his youngest had been crying. The spells had been coming more and more often of late and Bruce was unsure if it was typical moodiness, Damian’s continued disappointment in his body’s “betrayal” of him, or a sign of something deeper requiring an intervention. Still, he knew better than to mention the rings around his son’s eyes to Damian. The kid wouldn’t thank him for it.

“I don’t understand your insistence on education when it is clearly a waste of time for all of us.” Damian pointed out bitterly and Bruce sighed. His youngest was easily his most difficult child.

“Do you really think you would matter so little to me and to the world just because you are an omega?” Bruce asked. It felt like every week they had the same conversation. Damian had been raised in such a traditional, patriarchal family that his only value as a child had come from being his grandfather’s heir, and even then, that value had come with conditions. Being an alpha was the biggest of them. He was almost lucky, in a way, that he wasn’t an alpha because Talia had panicked the moment she realized her precious son was an omega and immediately sent him to live with Bruce. She’d been so protective of him before and Bruce had never pushed for custody because, quite frankly, he didn’t _deserve_ custody of this precious child, not after the way he’d treated Talia and by extension Damian in his youth. Talia had trusted Bruce though, knowing how much he loved Cass and Tim, to love Damian in a way she feared her family never would.

To this day Ra’s Al Ghul had never once tried to contact his grandson, proving that the omega was dead to him since he wasn’t the alpha heir Ra’s had longed for.

Damian didn’t answer the question. Bruce squeezed his son’s shoulder and guided the ten-year-old down the steps. He was almost at the front door, Cass already waiting impatiently (or, as impatiently as Cass got) by the steps when his cell phone rang.

“Mr. Wayne.” The voice on the other end greeted when Bruce picked up. “This is Commissioner Gordon.” Bruce was on friendly terms with the police commissioner. He’d donated to his campaign before. His alpha daughter Barbara had won the WE scholarship and was studying cybersecurity in college. Jim had also helped him foster and eventually adopt Cassandra and later Tim.

“Jim! What can I do for you today?” Bruce greeted warmly as he ushered his kids out the door. It was 7:30 AM now which meant they were all definitely going to be late, but Bruce didn’t let his concerns invade his tone of voice.

“I have a request for you. Is this a good time to talk?” No, but Bruce didn’t say that. They were in the back of the Royce now and Alfred was just pulling out of the driveway.

“What do you need?” Bruce asked, all philanthropist upstanding member of society in his voice. He didn’t need a mask around Gordon, but the habit was hard to break.

“Listen, I’ve searched everywhere and I’m all out of options. I need your help. Police raided a human trafficking ring two nights ago. It was a bunch of kids – all omegas.” Gordon explained and Bruce felt his gut clench at the words. Things like this had started hitting closer to home since he became a parent. Gordon continued, “The oldest two we rescued are seventeen and fifteen. They’ve been together for years and the doctors don’t want them separated. They have something called a Solova bond, heard of it?”

Bruce had, actually, in an abnormal psychology class in college. “Codependent bonds formed when one or both bonded experiences trauma and doesn’t cope properly. I’ve heard of it.”

“Good, good, then you probably know why the doctors have insisted we try to find them a home where they can stay together. To make matters worse, the older one is pregnant and insistent that he keep the baby.”

Oh God. Bruce glanced over at Cassandra who was looking out the window. For a harsh moment he saw her, too young to even be in love, dealing with a teen pregnancy. “I’ll take them.” The words were out of his mouth before he considered the implication of them.

“Talk it over with your kids first.” Gordon replied, sounding both relieved and amused.

“I will. How long before you need to place them?”

“Court gets involved tomorrow morning.” Gordon replied. “Believe me when I say we don’t want that. I think if we tell the court officer and social workers that the great Bruce Wayne has agreed to foster them I think we’ll avoid most of our problems.”

“Of course.” Bruce agreed easily and hung up. Now he was grateful he’d kept his foster license up to date. He hadn’t planned on any other kids after Damian because of how threatened his biological child felt by his two adopted children – and this when Damian even liked Cass – but he couldn’t leave two kids in need of a home to a life on the streets – and the streets would happen if the home wasn’t safe. Bruce knew hundreds of amazing foster parents in Gotham, but even the best parents would struggle to support two traumatized omegas and potential child. Bruce at least had the resources to make sure they were in a safe, comfortable place and, most importantly, kept together.

Cass was looking at him with mild interest as Bruce set the phone down, but Bruce didn’t explain anything about the conversation. This was a situation that would require thought and delicate handling. Cass would likely have no problem with two new foster siblings and Tim would grumble but ultimately concede that Bruce should take them in. It was Damian he’d need to be delicate with.

*~*~*

By the time Bruce returned home from the office it was after four and the kids were home. Tim, to Bruce’s surprise, was in Bruce’s office working on the computer. Tim was terrifyingly competent and had shown an aptitude for the kind of STEM work that WE needed. Bruce had already planned to get Tim an internship next summer but for now he was content to watch his middle child innovate from home.

“You know, if I hadn’t seen you this morning I’d have thought you’d made the whole heat up.” Bruce said by way of greeting, mostly to mask his concern.

Tim glanced up and took another sip from whatever was in the mug next to him. Bruce hoped it was some of Alfred’s pain relief tea and not something truly monstrous like energy drink dumped in coffee. Alfred’s tea worked wonders for relieving the cramps associated with both periods and heats, but it wasn’t the most palatable tea in the house. “It broke about an hour ago.” Tim explained. “So the total elapsed time for the heat is about fifteen hours. I’m researching why my heats have been so weird.”

“Find anything?” Bruce asked.

“Yeah. I’m either dying of cancer or it’s a normal part of puberty. Thanks WebMD.” Tim joked and Bruce, who half feared it was something serious, was not amused. That wasn’t funny. “In all seriousness, shorter frequent heats seem to indicate that I need my hormone levels testes. Depending on the levels I may need suppressants – which, score, means no more periods or heats – or I may need hormone therapy. Either way it’s nothing modern medicine can’t handle.”

That was a relief.

“I’ll schedule an appointment with Dr. Thompkins for next week.” Bruce said. “For now I need to talk to you and your siblings. Can you find Cass and Damian and meet me in the living room in fifteen minutes?”

Tim nodded and logged off the computer, leaving Bruce a chance to check his email before he headed to the living room. He’d already talked to Alfred earlier, after dropping the kids off at school and the butler was in agreement with Bruce – they were in a position to help, so they would. Now he just had to get his kids to agree.

Bruce made his way into the living room fifteen minutes later to find Cass and Damian seated on the couch while Tim was curled up closest to the fire wrapped in a blanket and still drinking whatever was in his mug. Bruce took the chair across from him.

“So, B, what do you have to tell us?” Tim asked as soon as Bruce sat down. Cass and Damian called Bruce father, but Tim had had parents who loved him. Sure the Drakes had been busy and distracted and neglectful, but even up to their death Tim had known they loved him. Bruce didn’t want to replace parents who clearly mattered to Tim, no matter his own personal feelings on the Drakes. So he let Tim call him B as a sort of compromise.

“Commissioner Gordon called this morning.” Bruce began. “I haven’t fostered any children since Damian came to live with us but I’ve kept my training up to date. He’d like for us to take in two teenagers.” Damian immediately opened his mouth to protest but Bruce held up his hand to silence him. “Let me speak.” He ordered. “These two, they’re omegas who’ve been through hell and back, far worse than anything any child should have to deal with. They’re suffering from a codependent sister bond called a Solova bond. Gordon’s worried that separating them could kill one or both of them, and even if it didn’t he’s also worried that they’ll run away if they feel unsafe. I think we can make them feel safe and help them heal. They’ve been through a lot. Don’t you think they deserve a good home?” It was a cheap appeal to their emotions, and one Bruce knew wouldn’t work on Damian. But at least it would work on Tim and Cass.

It did. “Yeah B. They can come stay with us.” Tim said at the same time Cass nodded. Damian clicked his tongue between his teeth and looked away.

“Why us, father?” He asked. “Surely in a city as large as Gotham someone else can deal with them? Why do we have to take in strays?”

It was cold and callused but Bruce knew where Damian was coming from. “Why shouldn’t we, Damian?”

It was easy to get so wrapped up in the day to day struggles, the things that made life difficult, the parts of life that weren’t perfect. Cassandra in love, Tim’s unusual heat cycles, Damian’s inferiority complex that made it difficult for Bruce to connect with him. It was easy to be swept away in what wasn’t going right that sometimes it was hard to remember that things were going right for them. Why shouldn’t they give when they could?

All Bruce knew was there were two broken teenagers in need of a home, around the same age as Tim and Cassandra, who needed something in their life to go right.

“I will concede to your will, Father.” Damian replied, in lieu of talking back to his father, and it wasn’t the yes Bruce wanted, but it would have to do.

“I’m proud of you Damian.” Bruce said. He feared he didn’t say it enough. I’m proud of you. I love you. I want you. He feared he didn’t say it enough for his youngest especially but it was perhaps the most gospel truth in Bruce’s world. “You’re being very mature.”

From the way Damian’s chest puffed out at the words, that was enough for the kid. It was enough to get him to concede to letting the two omegas come stay with them so Bruce was content. He pulled out his phone and dialed the Gordon. “We can take them.”

**Author's Note:**

> Like what you see? Feel free to recommend comics and movies to me or just pop into my tumblr for a chat at [Artificial Stupidity](http://lockea.tumblr.com). Want more writing? Prepare to be disappointed by my [writing tumblr](http://storytellerlockea.tumblr.com). :P
> 
> As always, consider leaving a kudos or comment if you liked the story. I know I love my inbox when I get kudos in it. I also love me some comments (even if I leave the country and forget to answer comments for three weeks). I love you all -- thanks for reading!


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